New Player Quick Start

As a new player, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out which characters are good. You get a bunch of low rarity characters dumped on you and some not very helpful advice from Justia in the first chapter.

The 3* and 4* costumes should get to +5 pretty quickly from doing draws. Some of them are better than the 5* costumes you start off with at +0. There is a big advantage to having characters with more than one costume, especially if you end up going multiple turns. This makes Justia particularly useful in the early part of the story.

Best Early Characters for Damage

Character	Property	Element	Tiles	Notes
	Maria	Archmage	Magic	Dark		Good damage and range for a 3*, but not enough early magic characters to make a team with
	Samay	Kind Liberator	Magic	Dark		Reduces enemy magic resist and does good damage
	Cynthia	Warmth within the Severe Cold	Magic	Water		Her initial damage is quite low, but it comes with a very potent DoT. Useful in fights that last more than 1 turn, assuming you can make use of her X pattern. You'll want to take her when you challenge the Crystal Cave of Fire.
	Kardis' Bullet	Ingrid	Physical	Water		Does more damage than +0 Scheherazade, but smaller range
	Gynt	Lugo Hunter	Physical	Wind		Does more damage than +0 Gray, but smaller range
	Wiggle	Bomb Fanatic	Physical	Fire		Competitive with 5*s, but only one use per fight. He'll carry for most of the story.
	Kry	Liberated Marauder	Physical	Dark		Reduces enemy defense and does good damage. Note, however, that defense cannot go below 0.
	Justia	White Reaper, Knight of Blood	Physical	Light		2 costumes. Ignores defense, but can't critical. This makes her very strong in the early story chapters, but less useful than the 3*s over time. She's also strong in PvP.
	Eleaneer	Piercing Magic Bow	Physical	Dark		Brand new accounts will only have her if they got her in the infinite roll, but she can be recruited later at the pub with a contract (note that Diana and Liatris are higher priority). Good damage and the cheapest dispel in the game (tied with Scheherazade's limited Pool Party costume). You'll find her very helpful during story chapters 10 and 12-14.

The rest of the easily accessible characters either do poor damage or are single target. You'll want to make sure you take either Arines or Elpis, depending on what kind of damage the other characters on your team do.

It's easier to form a physical team if you didn't get anything useful from draws. Magic tends to be have higher SP cost, so it's a little more challenging to use on top of having few good choices. So grab Arines, Wiggle, and any good physical characters you have. This should give you a good starting point until you get more familiar with the game's mechanics.

Sample Party Compositions for New Accounts

Character	Costume	Role	SP Cost
Just 3 Stars (Physical)			11sp
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	Buff	2SP
	Wiggle	Bomb Fanatic	AoE Damage	3SP
	Ingrid	Kardis' Bullet	Damage	3SP
	Gynt	Lugo Hunter	Damage	3SP
Just 3 and 4 Stars (Physical)			10sp
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	Buff	2SP
	Samay	Kind Student	Buff	1SP
	Wiggle	Bomb Fanatic	AoE Damage	3SP
	Kry	Liberated Marauder	Armor Piercing/Damage	4SP
Chapter 2 Magic			11sp
	Hand of Salvation	Buff	2SP
	Kind Student	Buff	1SP
	Archmage	Damage	4SP
	Lapis Witch	Damage	4SP

Basic Damage Formula

TLDR: it's usually best to have multiple different types of damage boosts, rather than focusing on a single one like ATK.

• [ATK from gear]
• [ability damage modifier]
• 1 + [all ATK buffs added together]
• 1 + [number of chains × 0.1]
• 1 + [Crit DMG from gear] + [all Crit DMG buffs added together]
• 1 + [increases enemy's damage taken buffs and debuffs added together]
• 1 + [inherent property damage] + [all property damage buffs added together]
• 1 - [target's DEF or Magic Resist]
• 1 - [target's reduces damage taken buffs]
• 1 - [target's property resist]

In the case of multi-hit attacks, each hit is calculated separately due to increasing chain counts.

Understanding Property Damage (Elemental Advantage and Weakness)

This is the most important concept you need to understand before you start planning your team, even more important than deciding between physical or magic damage.

Property is just the game's way of saying element. All characters have a property damage attribute (eg. Fire DMG), most have a property resist attribute (eg. Wind Resist). These values are 50% by default. You can find this information by viewing any unit's attributes.

Property damage only takes effect if the character's element is strong against the enemy's element. If your character has the fire property and she's fighting a wind enemy, she's going to do 50% more damage. This can make weaker characters competitive with stronger ones, especially if you pair them with Diana.

The property resist attribute is a little more straight forward. If your character has the fire property and is attacking a water enemy, which has an inherent Fire Resist property, she's going to do 50% less damage. So if you don't have any characters who are strong against the enemy's element, the next best thing you can do is make sure you aren't using characters who are weak to it. Liatris is a good easy pick for fire, since you can recruit her from the pub.

There are two ways to increase your property damage: buffs and potentials. Each character has at least one costume that has two property damage nodes, each worth 15%. This brings your character up from 50% to 80% property damage. However, bonding to this costume is usually not the best choice for when you don't have elemental advantage. Take 1 or 2 of these characters to buff your property damage:

Note that there are a few places where enemies don't have an element. Just use your strongest characters and skip the property damage buffs.

Know Your Pushers

Pushing enemies around lets you increase how many enemies you can hit by your team's AoE attacks, or make inaccessible enemies more accessible. Bosses and a few other enemies are immune to knockback.

The good thing about pushers is that you don't need to level them in order for them to be effective, unless you plan on having them use an ability on a following turn.

Super Pushers

Costume	Description

Most characters knock the enemy straight back, but there are a few that push different directions.

Unusual Knockback Directions

Direction	Very Front	Skip

Morpeah is currently the only summoner. Her pets have a different knockback direction than she does.

Morpeah and Her Summons

Unit	Costume	Targeting	Knockback	Range
Morpeah	Any	Skip
Persona of Worship (Heart)	Beach Vacation	Very Front
Persona of Slander (Thumbs Up)	Beach Vacation	Very Front
Bunny Spectre	Daydream Bunny	Very Front

What damage attribute are you using?

Physical attackers use ATK, magic uses Magic ATK. It's usually best to stick to either physical or magical damage characters to maximize the damage boost you get from your supports.

Keep in mind that the assumption here is that your supports are at their ideal breakpoints. If they're not, costumes like B-Rank Idol Helena and Medical Club Teresse can be worse than their more common counterparts.

• Take 1-2 ATK/Magic ATK buffers, at least one of them should also buff crit rate
• Take 1-2 damage amplifiers, if you have them

Support Type	Physical	Magic	Any
ATK/Magic ATK + crit rate buff
ATK/Magic ATK buff
Damage Amplification

What are Chains?

Every time you hit an enemy in a single turn, the chain counter for that enemy goes up. Each enemy has its own chain counter. For every chain, your next attack on that target gets a 10% damage boost. This applies to each hit of a multi-hit attack, too. If you have chain 10, the next hit will do 100% more damage. This means you should use your weaker multi-hit attacks before your stronger low-hit attacks if you want to do the most damage.

Part of the challenge is finding the right balance between chains and damage dealt. The costumes with the highest number of attacks usually do the least damage. Depending on the situation, this might make your final hit have big numbers, but lower overall damage. This is why costumes like Game Club Rafina (3-hit) and Track and Field Captain Levia (4-hit) are particularly attractive, because they bring more to the table than just chains.

Chain Related Costumes

Portrait	Character	Costume	Description
	Refithea	Pure White Blessing	In addition to increasing property damage, she doubles the amount of chains your characters generate. This ability has to be used every turn due to its short duration, making it difficult to use her weaker second costume.
	Celia	Masquerade Bunny	This costume has a self-buff that doubles the amount of chains she generates, increasing the damage the rest of your team does. Primarily used in Fiend Hunt. Introduced as a limited costume in December 2023.
	Teresse	Beachside Angel	Increases the damage your entire team does, as long as your target has 5 chains or less on it. This means you can use Descendant of the Great Witch Celia (5 hits) plus Last Hope Loen (1 hit) and still get the damage boost. If you use Track and Field Team Loen (2 hits) instead, only the first hit of Loen's attack gets the damage boost. This stacks additively with the "vulnerability" debuff. Introduced as a limited costume in August 2024.
	Liberta	Onsen Manager	Once the target has 10 chains on it or more, your allies will do extra damage. This stacks additively with the "vulnerability" debuff.
	Eris	Esteemed Adventurer	Her damage nearly doubles if her attack will result in 7 chains or less. Introduced as a limited costume during the Mushoku Tensei collaboration in May-June 2024.
	Luvencia	Wild Dog	At +5, her damage doubles if her attack will result in a chain that's a multiple of 3 (calculated separately for each hit of the attack). Worst outcome is when the number of chains on the target before she attacks is a multiple of 3 (eg. 0, 3, 6). Best outcome is when there is a chain bonus that is a multiple of 3n+2 (eg. 2, 5, 8), making every attack generate chains that are a multiple of 3.

Specialty Roles

You won't always need these, but there will be times when you can't brute force the problem by throwing more damage at it.

Putting it All Together (Basic Template)

There is no "one size fits all" team. You have to find the right combination of buffs, debuffs, pushers, and chains to make your team out damage the enemy. Lots of enemies? Use big AoE attacks. Can't kill hit all enemies in a single AoE volley? Bring another damage dealer or silencer to deal with whatever you miss. A single boss fight? Grab your highest damage single-target attacker and buff the hell out of them.

Take 2-4 from the following table, add any pushers or specialty roles you need, and your damage dealer(s) for the job.

Meta Team Members for Most Content

Portrait	Character	Costume	Purpose	Notes	SP	Hits	Range
Any
	Diana	Adventurer of the Unknown	Property Damage + Crit Rate Buff	Skip if you don't have elemental advantage	3-2SP
	Teresse	Beachside Angel (limited)	Damage Amplification Buff	Skip if the total number of hits your team will do is 7 or more	4-2SP
	Teresse	Medical Club	ATK & Magic ATK Buff + Heal over Time	If you have Beachside Angel, you'll almost never use this on turn 1. If you aren't using her Beachside Angel costume, skip if less than +2 or you have a second ATK/Magic ATK buffer.	4-3SP
	Samay	Kind Student	ATK & Magic ATK Buff + Heal over Time	Only use if you're short on SP or lacking a second ATK/Magic ATK buffer. Must be used every turn.	1-0SP
Physical
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	ATK + Crit Rate Buff		2SP
	Lathel	Homunculus	ATK Buff	The first 2 turns of the buff are better than what Arines gives. The remaining turns are worse or equal, depending on dupes and potentials	2-1SP
	Rafina	Game Club	Damage Amplification Debuff + Chains		5-3SP	3-hit
Magic
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	Better Magic ATK buff than Elpis, but only if +2 with potentials. Better crit rate buff than Elpis, but only if +5.	3-1SP
	Elpis	Hand of Salvation	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff		2SP
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification Debuff + Chains	Main target takes 20% additional damage	5-4SP	4-hit

Example Teams

Here are a few teams you can use for inspiration, some have one free slot for a character of your choice. You may need to take SP reduction potentials or obtain a certain number of costume duplicates before you can squeeze all of your abilities into the first turn.

Example Physical Teams

Physical teams are generally more accessible to newer players. No matter what banners are running, Liatris is always recruitable from the pub and most of the good 3 and 4* characters are physical.

Sample Physical Compositions

Portrait	Character	Costume	Role	SP Cost	Hits	Range
Early Liatris Carry (Physical)			14-10sp	Chain-8
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	ATK + Crit Rate Buff	2SP
	Samay	Kind Student	ATK Buff	1SP
	Rafina	Game Club	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-3SP	3-hit
	Liatris	Rodev's Star	AoE Damage/Chain	6-4SP	5-hit
Very First Solo Boss Kill (Partan, ch11 Fake Game)			17-13sp	Chain-7
	Diana	Adventurer of the Unknown	Property Damage + Crit Rate Buff	3-2SP
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	ATK + Crit Rate Buff	2SP
	Liatris	Rodev's Star	AoE Damage/Chain	6-4SP	5-hit
	Wiggle	Bomb Fanatic	AoE Damage	3SP	1-hit
	Lathel	Promise of Vengeance	Focused Damage	3-2SP	1-hit
Advanced Solo Boss Kill (Nox, ch12 or ch14)			14-9sp	Chain-14
	Diana	Adventurer of the Unknown	Property Damage + Crit Rate Buff	3-2SP
	Refithea	Pure White Blessing	Property Damage + Chain Buff	3-2SP
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	ATK + Crit Rate Buff	2SP
	Zenith	Robin Hood	Damage Amplification/Chain	2-0SP	6-hit x 2
	Yuri	Comeback Idol	Focused Damage	4-3SP	1-hit x 2
Maximize Maid Liatris			18-12sp	Chain-9
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	ATK + Crit Rate Buff	2SP
	Lathel	Homunculus	ATK Buff	2-1SP
	Rafina	Game Club	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-3SP	3-hit
	Gray	Vanguard	Chain/DoT	5-3SP	5-hit
	Liatris	Maid Name R	AoE Damage	4-3SP	1-hit
No Advantage Physical			19-15sp	Chain-5
	Arines	Priest of Vitality	ATK + Crit Rate Buff	2SP
	Lathel	Homunculus	ATK Buff	2-1SP
	Rafina	Game Club	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-3SP	3-hit
	Sacred Justia	Reclaimed Destiny	AoE Damage	6-5SP	1-hit
	Yuri	Comeback Idol	Focused Damage (optional)	4-3SP	1-hit

Example Magic Teams

Magic costumes tend to have higher SP costs than their physical counterparts. This makes it a lot more challenging to get all of your abilities off on turn 1 if you don't have every possible SP reduction. The up side is that you have better sources for crit rate buffs and a wider variety of large AoE attacks.

Sample Magical Party Compositions without Limiteds

Character	Costume	Role	SP Cost	Hits	Range
Advanced Solo Boss Kill (Nox, ch12 or ch14), crit fishing edition			18-12sp	Chain-26
	Diana	Adventurer of the Unknown	Property Damage + Crit Rate Buff	3-2SP
	Refithea	Pure White Blessing	Property Damage + Chain Buff	3-2SP
	Zenith	Robin Hood	Damage Amplification/Chain	2-0SP	6-hit x 2
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit x 2
	Angelica	Pool Party	Focused Damage	5-4SP	3-hit x 2
General Purpose (with SP Recovery)			17-14sp	Chain-6
	Elpis	Hand of Salvation	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	2SP
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	3-1SP
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit
	Loen	Last Hope	AoE Damage	5SP	1-hit
	Lucrezia	Seductive Wings	Silence/Battery	2SP	2-hit
General Purpose Magic (High Chains)			18-13sp	Chain-24
	Refithea	Pure White Blessing	Property Damage + Chain Buff	3-2SP
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Buff	3-1SP
	Olstein	Sage of Blue Clouds	Chain + Weaken + Dispel stat buffs	2-1SP	7-hit x 2
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit x 2
	Loen	Last Hope	AoE Damage	5SP	1-hit x 2
Strong Elemental Advantage for Fire			19-14sp	Chain-10
	Diana	Adventurer of the Unknown	Property Damage + Crit Rate Buff	3-2SP
	Refithea	Pure White Blessing	Property Damage + Chain Buff	3-2SP
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Buff	3-1SP
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit x 2
	Loen	Last Hope	AoE Damage	5SP	1-hit x 2

Sample Magical Party Compositions with Limiteds

Character	Costume	Role	SP Cost	Hits	Range
General Purpose (High Crit Rate)			19-14sp	Chain-5
	Elpis	Hand of Salvation	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	2SP
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	3-1SP
	Teresse	Beachside Angel	Damage Amplification	4-2SP
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit
	Loen	Last Hope	AoE Damage	5SP	1-hit
General Purpose (with Clean-Up)			21-15sp	Chain-6
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	3-1SP
	Teresse	Beachside Angel	Damage Amplification	4-2SP
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit
	Loen	Last Hope	AoE Damage	5SP	1-hit
	Venaka	DJ	Armor Piercing/Focused Damage	4-3SP	1-hit
General Purpose Magic (High Chains)			20-15sp	Chain-19
	Refithea	Pure White Blessing	Property Damage + Chain Buff	3-2SP
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Buff	3-1SP
	Celia	Masquerade Bunny	Chain self-buff	4-3SP	3-hit x 3
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit x 2
	Loen	Last Hope	AoE Damage	5SP	1-hit x 2
SP Hungry Magic			20-14sp	Chain-7 or 8
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	3-1SP
	Teresse	Beachside Angel	Damage Amplification	4-2SP
	Lucrezia	Seductive Wings	Silence/Battery	2SP	2-hit
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit
	Morpeah	Beach Vacation	AoE Damage	6-5SP	1 or 2-hit
Elemental Advantage for Wind			13-11sp	Chain-5
	Diana	Adventurer of the Unknown	Property Damage + Crit Rate Buff	3-2SP
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Magic ATK + Crit Rate Buff	3-1SP
	Dalvi	Summer Vacation	AoE Damage	4SP	4-hit
	Venaka	DJ	Armor Piercing/Focused Damage	4-3SP	1-hit
Elemental Advantage for Fire			19-14sp	Chain-5
	Diana	Adventurer of the Unknown	Property Damage + Crit Rate Buff	3-2SP
	Helena	B-Rank Idol	Buff	3-1SP
	Teresse	Beachside Angel	Damage Amplification	4-2SP
	Levia	Track and Field Captain	Damage Amplification/Chain	5-4SP	4-hit x 2
	Loen	Last Hope	AoE Damage	5SP	1-hit x 2

Tower of Pride

Pretty much all of the general team building guidelines go out the window here. If you want to achieve the maximum score and tie for first place, you have to meet specific conditions. Sometimes you have no choice but to take mixed physical and magic teams or use a less than ideal support.

The other requirements for reaching the maximum score are as follows:

• Win on turn 1
• Win with full health (make sure to heal up before entering, take a burst healer like Lisianne if you're using HP sacrifice abilities)
• Deal at least 1M damage with a single attack (this can be spread over multiple targets, as long as it does 1M damage combined)

Check a more in-depth guide on DotGG.

Fiend Hunt

Fiend Hunt (FH) is a little bit different. Every two weeks, the season changes and a new fiend becomes available with completely different mechanics. The goal is to do as much damage as you can over a limited number of turns. The fiend tends to do non-lethal damage so you don't need to gear much for defense. In later stages, you'll use two or even three teams: when one team dies, the fiend's abilities are reset and the next team takes over and continues doing damage.

• Take advantage of elemental strengths and weaknesses
• Use characters with multiple costumes or quick cooldown abilities, multiple small damage chains can really add up
• Make sure to read all of the fiend's skill descriptions: some of them give you buffs or make the fiend take more damage, while others can do really bad things if you're improperly positioned
• Do not underestimate DPS characters with little or no costume duplicates, you just need to make sure you have the most effective support characters you can get